


A Match Made in Hell

by NoGalraNoGlory



Category: Original Work, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Alpha Shiro (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Beta Shiro's mom, Emo Keith (Voltron), Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith's real name is Tae-Hyun, Korean Keith (Voltron), M/M, Omega Keith (Voltron), Omegaverse, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Past Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Protective Shiro (Voltron), half inspired by Super Lovers, non-sexual a/b/o
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-10 10:43:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13500238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoGalraNoGlory/pseuds/NoGalraNoGlory
Summary: Life somehow has found every way to mess up Keith's mind. From abandonment at age six to an abusive relationship in his first few teen years with an Alpha who thinks of omega's as slaves and sexhouses. When will Keith get a break? When will Keith have the love he desperately needs? This story follows Keith through his life in spurts up until the year where it ends.---------------This work is a backstory for Keith in a Voltron roleplay I made with a friend. He decided to show me the backstory of his character, so now it's my turn to show him Keith's. You can read it as a stand-alone fic and tell me your feedback! If you stan Keith, try not to stab me please. And to the amazing person who helped inspire this backstory—I know you're reading this—I really do hope you find this interesting since you know some of his backstory, but not all of it. And /definitely not/ in detail. Protect this poor bean. Also please read all the tags.





	1. The Orphanage - Six Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first sufferings Keith Kogane--Tae-Hyun--underwent. The mystery of the Korean orphan is unknown to the workers at the orphanage and have yet to try and find out more about him. Though, the other orphan's seem very interested in Tae-Hyun. Tae-Hyun must find different ways to hide from them.

_**BANG!**_ goes the door.  _ **BANG! BANG! BANG!**_ "Open up, ya little _rat!_ I know you stole my shit and I  _know_ you're in there!" The child scrambled away from the door, his chest heaving wildly. His violet eyes were open wide and he said nothing to voice his fears. Angry growls could be heard on the other side, followed by another series of loud  ** _BANG! BANG! BANG!_** Tae-Hyun suddenly found the strength to move and got up. He knew the older orphan would get through eventually and the child's knees buckled at the thought of the beating he would receive. He thought of hiding under the bed but  _learning_ from last time, he would be found easily. Tae-Hyun turned on his heel and headed for the closet of the little bedroom that could really pass as a broom closet. He covered himself in a pile of clothes, cowering and shivering to the point that he was giving himself a migraine. 

It wasn't long until the door was busted open with a  _ **K-THUNK**_ and the stench of cigarettes mixed with whiskey filled the room, hitting the young boy's sensitive nose. He tried his damnedest to stop from shaking so much but he  _couldn't._ As he felt the footsteps of the older man walking throughout the room, it became harder and harder for Tae-Hyun to keep from whimpering in fear. He had no idea where the man was but the stench was getting  _stronger._ More putrid to the nose. he found a sudden glimmer of hope when he heard no footsteps in the room. He must've left. Tae-Hyun started to shift around when suddenly a strong force attached itself onto his tiny ankle and yanked him into the clearing.

Tae-Hyun was being held by the ankle in the air and as he struggled and whimpered, he could hear the dark chuckles and could smell the nicotine filling the air around him, suffocating him. One moment, he was dangling in the air and the next he was thrown harshly to the floor. His tiny skull thudded against the concrete and his spine screamed in pain. His vision became blurred and all he could tell, using his senses, that his shoe was being taken off. Or what was left of it. The Orphanage hadn't bothered to give him better clothes. Once everything became more clear, he saw the dark grin of the older orphan and his hand was suddenly reaching for Keith's face. His head was grabbed and suddenly he couldn't think straight. He could only feel his head moving up and down and pain pooling at the back of his head, moving into his entire brain. The movements ceased and Tae-Hyun was left dizzy and sick. The older male's same cold hand grasped his small foot in one hand finally, through his blurry eyes, he saw his other hand held the cigarette. 

The six year old realized a second too late what was about to happen. In a flash, the boy was struggling to break free from the grasp on his ankle and gasping out  _"Please...please...please no!"_ which was all he could remember to say in that moment. The burning on the sole of his foot didn't spark reaction immediately but once he felt it, he couldn't ignore the agonizing pain. It was spreading to all over his foot and felt itchy and hot at the same time. Tae-Hyun couldn't hear the sound of his own screams until his face was slapped harshly. The older boy pressed the cigarette to another spot on his foot and pressed it harder this time. Tae-Hyun's screams continued until his voice began to give own. Tears were forced out of his eyes as his body squirmed from the pain.

Then, almost as quick as it came, the pain was lessened. It wasn't gone, it still lingered, but it didn't feel direct anymore. Tae-Hyun's blurred vision had to be wiped away with his hands shakily as he saw the adults pulling back the older boy and restraining his arms. They didn't approach Tae-Hyun, didn't even glance at him. They just dragged the older boy out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Tae-Hyun tried to catch his breath. He stared at the crumpled cigarette lying in front of him and shakily scooted away from it. His face was frozen into a horrified state and his body was suddenly shaking violently. His throat hitched and he began to let out strangled sobs. He heard footsteps approaching the door and scrambled to his feet. Since he stood up too fast, the world flipped and did rolls which made him nearly run his head into the corner of a dresser. The dresser. Tae-Hyun desperately pulled out the drawers of the dresser before climbing into the back. The drawers themselves couldn't close by themselves anyways so with Tae-Hyun hiding behind them, it still looked natural. 

Tae-Hyun heard the door swinging open quickly but heard no approaching footsteps. "Huh," He heard. "Looks like the brat left" with that, the door closed and Tae-Hyun was left by himself in the dresser, shaking and shivering in fear. Since it was dark, he didn't the bright world to make his vision dizzy. But as time went on, and it went on for a while, a skull-splitting headache made itself present to Tae-Hyun.

****

Tae-Hyun didn't ever see that older boy again. Once he came out of hiding, he found that the older boy's presence was long forgotten by pretty much every one. The little boy felt as if he were the only boy who remembered him. Maybe he didn't exist in the first place. Was he imaginary? But no. No he wasn't. Because Tae-Hyun overheard the adults talking about the boy and how they dealt with him. That information alone was enough to make the small child go back into hiding. No one could find him but no one actually cared to look in the first place. In his time alone, he set a goal for himself. A goal that would make sure he didn't end up like the older boy. A goal that would keep himself safe. He had to be strong. 

 

But being strong wasn't good enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was sitting up in bed while writing this. RIP my tailbone.


	2. The Name - Six Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But that wasn't good enough for The Adult. Nothing ever was.

It hadn't been much time until Tae-Hyun's demeanour changed. After that particular past experience among others, he became more aggressive in how he dealt with others. Never letting the adults get too close and fighting the other orphans. He also became silent. Not unreadable, but silent. At it gave the other boys more opportunities to tease him. More ways to rile him up until he got in trouble. More ways to get inside his head.

"Hey, kid. Heard you lost your food privileges today. Mind if I have your share? No? Well, either way you aren't gonna stop me, are ya?" The dirty, blonde haired boy leaned down to shove his face close to Tae-Hyun's. "Hm, Korean boy? Gonna say anything?" The kid taunted the boy with a knowing smile, waiting for Tae-Hyun just to stare at him. Too bad he was out of luck. In Tae-Hyun's hand was the broken top of a glass beer bottle just laying around for any child to get its hands on. Tae-Hyun brought it up quickly and whacked the kid over the head as hard as he could, which was surprisingly hard as it had completely smashed over his head. He let out a scream and fell back while holding his head with his hand. 

The kid let out an odd growling sound, low in his throat, and got up. "You're dead, you bastard!" He growled out. Tae-Hyun got up as fast as he could and raced down the hallway, running from the angry older kid. He took rights and lefts until his feet couldn't carry him anymore. He got stopped at a dead end and his eyes visibly widened as he turned to look behind him. The boy wasn't there. Tae-Hyun had outrun him. His little heart was still pounding and his hands were shaking at their sides as he breathed a sigh of relief. He walked all the way back to where he was before but as he walked through the door frame, his elbow was caught roughly by someone's hand. Flinching slightly, he looked up and met the gaze of one of the adults. He saw the boy behind him with his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face. 

"You! Did you hurt this boy?!" The Adult called, their voice booming loudly as he jerked Tae-Hyun around by his arm. Tae-Hyun said nothing. The Adult yanked him around again, more violently this time. "Speak! What did you do?!" The Adult's face winded up into an angry snarl and his voice suddenly turned a tone lower. "Tell me what you fucking did!! Now" The tone was commanding and Tae-Hyun vaguely recognized it as something Alpha's did but suddenly felt too compelled to speak then to think. 

"I-I....." His tiny voice was shaky and uncertain from lack of use. He ducked his head and looked down. The Adult shook him back and forth, barking another 'Speak, dammit!'. He took a tiny breath "I-I di.....d" He finally managed to get out. But that wasn't good enough for The Adult. The Adult let out a clipped laugh and stood up straight, still holding onto Tae-Hyun's elbow. "Look's like you'll need some further interrogating, huh?" The Adult looked back at the blonde boy. "Okay, kid. I'll make sure this kid gets punished. You got eat" The blonde boy shot a deafening evil smile before running off.

Suddenly, Tae-Hyun was left alone with The Adult. He shakily looked up at him and tried to softly pull his arm away. But The Adult yanked him back and grinned down at him. "Interrogation time, boy" He said, sickeningly slow. He began to drag Tae-Hyun down a hallway, not caring if he was practically dragging him, and threw him into a dark room. Tae-Hyun couldn't brace himself fast enough and his head crashed into a table. He crumpled to the ground as he clutched at his head. The only way he knew the door had been closed was thew loud  _ **click**_ of a lock. Still holding his head, he turned his body to look up at The Adult. The Adult approached him slowly, the light on the ceiling giving his body a back lit glow. The Adult reached down, reaching for his head and making Tae-Hyun flinch away. That one particular view had engraved itself in Tae-Hyun's mind, giving him a mental trigger to try to move away from it.  

Then suddenly The Adult's hand grabbed hold of his hair, yanking him up only by his hair. They had a nasty smile on their face as they lifted him into the air. Tae-Hyun was slightly surprised that it didn't hurt all that much. It just felt as if his scalp were burning. But The Adult switched their grip from his hair to his neck and wrapped their hands around his throat. Violet eyes widening, his tiny and frail hands moved up to claw at The Adult's hands. Suddenly, there was no air allowed in his lungs and The Adult squeezed their hands tightly together. Tae-Hyun let out little gagging noises and coughs, his tiny voice still not trying to say anything. Not even a cry for help.

Tae-Hyun's vision was getting spotty as his mind began to feel light and fluffy. His eyes were close to closing and he nearly lost consciousness when The Adult let go of his throat, letting the poor child fall to the ground. Tae-Hyun let out wheezing gasps and coughs as his vision became blurry but almost clear again. He let out wheezing breaths as his arms gave out and he fell to the floor. But soon the blurriness and spottiness came back and Tae-Hyun past out.

 

****

Tae-Hyun woke up in the same room after he past out. However, The Adult was gone and instead was replaced with a group of almost Adults. They all were laughing to themselves and taking long drags of their cigarettes. They were the people who hadn't ever been adopted. They were what Tae-Hyun would probably end up like in the future. At this point, the young boy had lost all hope of ever getting out of the orphanage. The Almost Adults seemed to notice Tae-Hyun was awake and surrounded him in a circle. "Hey, little Kimchi~" One Almost Adult said. The other Almost Adults laughed. "You past out for a while, little Kimchi. We were afraid you were dead!" The next Almost Adult that spoke kicked Tae-Hyun's back fleetingly. A third Almost Adult crouched down to look at Tae-Hyun's face closely. "Hey boys, don't you think we should call him by his name? Little Kimchi doesn't suit him." The third Almost Adult narrowed his eyes. "But Tae-hyoon or whatever doesn't suit the brat either" The room went eerily silent as Tae-Hyun tried his best to start breathing normally again. The Almost Adult crouching by Tae-Hyun looked back at his friends. "What's a generic american name?" He asked. He exhaled a startled breath as an Almost Adult went 'Ah!'. 

"How about Kevin?" The crouching Almost Adult shook his head. "Richard?" He snickered but shook his head again. "What about Steve? That's pretty generic" The Almost Adult waved his hand dismissively with a disappointed and irritated face when abruptly, another almost Adult called out. "How about Keith?" Tae-Hyun saw something in the Almost Adult's eyes flicker to life and a wide grin spread across his ugly thin lips as he looked down at Tae-Hyun. "Yeah. That sounds about right" He reached out, Tae-Hyun (Keith? Keith) flinching away, and grabbing the kid by the shoulders. "Hey little Keithy~" He purred disgustingly sweet. "How about we introduce you to Mr. cigarette, hm?" Tae-Hy—Keith knew instantly what that meant and shook his head rapidly, his eyes wide with fear. His frame quivered as he was suddenly grabbed by each limb and held down. He let out a tiny gasp, his violet eyes quickly shifting to all the faces in the room. He grunted in a panicked manner as his leg was lifted into the air. His foot, the same foot that had been burned before, was presented to the Almost Adults. 

You already know what happened after that.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No offence to anyone named Kevin, Richard or Steve.


	3. The Caretaker - Seven Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The seven year old boy's body tensed up and he went completely still, the stale bread being quickly forgotten. He didn't dare to move a single muscle as he strained to listen for movement.

 

 

 

Seven years of age found Keith bounding down the halls as he ran from his pursuers. He took a quick glance behind him, dropping ten per cent of his food. _Shit!_  He cursed inwardly as he took a small detour throughout the orphanage walls. Food was getting scarce in the building and kids were left to fend for themselves against each other. Starving child against starving child. Keith had managed to control his scent and use against other's to make them back off. Even if his dynamic was unknown, he had learned how to growl which served a greater use then one could ever know.

The young boy was racing. He was racing for his hiding spot. For his small amount of freedom. He somehow got extremely ahead of the older boys and took a left until he was met with a dead end. The same dead end that he had been at around last year. Or was it only a month ago? Time is irrelevant when you're a  _shitty_  orphan living in a  _shitty_ world with  _shitty_ orphanages.  _Shit shit shit_  ran through Keith's mind and he slowly walked to the left wall at the dead end. He used his somewhat free hand to open the vent in the wall and, making sure no one was looking, took off his tattered and awful smelling shirt. He bundled up the food with his shirt and carried it like a sack over his shoulder.

Over the span of a year, Keith had found the ins and outs of the orphanage. In particular, this vent lead to the attic in which was practically abandoned and allowed the small child to hide from the Adults and other orphans. The people here, which Keith hadn't learned any of their names, were all people who believed in survival of the fittest. Keith especially heard that phrase said from one of the Adults in their office. "In this world, it's survival of the fittest. If you aren't strong enough, you might as well give up." That. somehow, planted itself in Keith's mind. Now he knew exactly what that was called. It rung in his head on an endless loop, having nothing better or coherent to think about.

Keith, upon arriving in the abandoned attic, got up and tiptoed to his corner where he usually hid. Now, he said it was  _mostly_ abandoned but sometimes the Adults came up here to grab something that they stored away. Usually it was stuff like wine and vodka that Keith had learned to loathe. So, therefore, Keith had to hide away just in case. He usually hide in a sideways crate facing a shelf that was mostly empty. He nuzzled into the corner of the crate and unfolded his tattered shirt. He picked up a crumbled muffin and took off the wrapper. He shoved the food in his mouth and scarfed it down hungrily. He scarfed down another stale pastry and grabbed the rest of the food. His tiny fingers reached outside of the crate and pried at a loose floorboard. He managed to pry it open a little and stuffed the food into a small box he had hidden underneath the floorboards. He grabbed one last piece of food to eat before putting the floorboard back down and hiding inside the crate once again. He started to eat the stale slice of bread and slowly put his long and tattered beige shirt back on.

Suddenly, the attic stairs were pulled down with a loud screaming coming from the wood and an uproar from the dust coating it. The seven year old boy's body tensed up and he went completely still, the stale bread being quickly forgotten. He didn't dare to move a single muscle as he strained to listen for movement. Keith was about to try and smell for the person's scent, to try and map out where exactly they were when he came to a sudden realization. He couldn't smell any scent. And it wasn't just that, he came to realize that he couldn't ever smell anyone's scent here. In his first time here, he could at least smell some kind of human scent, no matter if they were an alpha or omega, but this person didn't smell like  _anything._ It was like they didn't exist.

Forgetting his motivation to stay still, Keith shifted his body to sit more upright. That's when, all of the sudden, he's grabbed by the collar and yanked out of his hiding spot. The world moves past him in a blur and the next thing he knows, he's sent flying into a shelf. His back hits smack in the middle of the shelf and causes it to teeter over. He falls to the ground and immediately scrambles to duck away from the falling shelf but as he's halfway out of the way, the shelf lands on his calves, stopping him from moving. He bites back a yelp but collapses to the floor. He hears the person walking towards him and shoving him slightly with what he feels to be his foot. "Did you seriously think you were sneaky, kid? I could smell you scent from a mile away. You haven't been eating the food in the mess hall, have you? Well, it makes it easier to find you, I guess" Keith can barely sit up with the amount of pain in his calves, it being able to consume his thoughts. However, the weight of the shelf is lifted off of him and he glances up to see the person lifting the shelf back up. Keith took the opportunity to scramble far away from him all the way to another corner of the room, his eyes never leaving the stranger. After a moment, said stranger looks over at Keith and sighs loudly, as if speaking to the child is the biggest nuisance ever.

"Someone's here you take you away, brat" The stranger says before leaving the attic, heading down the ladder in angry stomps. Keith is left there, dumbfounded and unblinking. Someone's here? For him? Where were they taking him? Keith began to shake as he slowly got up. Should he just go and see who was there for him and if they looked shady or not. They probably did. In Keith's adolescent mind, he imagined a dark, lanky Adult reaching out for his head with his hand and Keith found himself curled into a little ball, and—"Did you not hear me, you brat?!" The stranger was back and picking Keith up by the scruff. He carried Keith down like that, finding it easier to bring him down. As Keith hung in silence, the stranger laughed. "Look's like you'll grow up to be a whore, little brat" Keith didn't know what 'whore' meant but it didn't sound good. In response, he let out a growl and glared up at the stranger.

"Don't try to act alpha to an alpha, little brat. It ain't gonna work out for you" So he  _was_  an alpha. So, why couldn't Keith pick up his scent at all? But his questions were left unanswered as he was set down in front of the infamous meeting room. Keith had always heard from the older orphans that this room was what would make or break your fate. Keith wished he knew what fate was but he couldn't do much about his stupidity. He slowly went up on his toes to reach the door handle and pulled at the door handle. The door opened eerily slow and he toddled in quietly. He took a single glance to the person before ignoring them completely and walking to the corner of the room. He sat down and hugged his knees to his chest. The room was so silent that Keith could hear the breathing of the other person in the room. He took a moment to hone in on their scent and realized they were only a beta. That's good. No alpha tone to control him. But Keith still didn't look at the person.

Startling Keith, he suddenly felt hot puffs of hair fanning onto him and a really gross smelling stench wafted to his nose. If Keith were to describe it, it would be if you mixed unwashed wet hair with stinky smelling socks. It was alarming that Keith jerked away from it, trying to back up farther into the corner. He turned his gaze and was met with beady little eyes staring straight at him. Most of the small eyes were the same colour but except for one pair which had one blue eye and one brown one. Keith's eyes widened but he stayed still. They weren't like him. They were on their hands and feet and had the longest tongues Keith had ever seen, which really didn't account to much. Their ears were  _on top of their head!_ And they had hair  _everywhere!_ A—and not to mention they had something wriggly and moving behind them. Keith was mystified and absolutely enchanted by them! But he didn't approach them. He didn't  _dare_ approach them. There had to be at least five of them. Keith counted! Or, at least, he tried.

The beta person on the other side of the room walked over slowly and Keith looked up. What he saw was a woman! A beta woman. Keith had never met a beta woman. He stared up at her blankly and cowered closer to the wall. While he was actually cowering, he looked as if he was a cornered angry cat. The woman raised an eyebrow at him. She then crouched down and gave Keith a warm look. But she didn't smile. "Hello, Tae-Hyun" She greeted firmly but not unkindly. "I'm Meghan Choi" She then reached out, noticing that Keith had flinched, and patted the hairy thing on its head. Meghan was too busy looking at the hairy thing, which Keith figured was some sort of animal, to hear Keith murmur quietly. "...eith" She snapped her gaze over to him and tilted her head. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Looking slightly angry, he repeated "...Keith" more clearly.

Meghan stared at him for a moment before nodding. "My apologies, Keith" She looked over at the hairy animal and patted it again. "So, let me cut straight to the chase, Keith," she looked straight at him "I'm not adopting you. I'm just fostering you in my home until someone decides to adopt you. It's better than living in an orphanage for who knows how long." Keith continued to stare at her silently before just looking down at the floor. Meghan was crouching there in silence for a long time before she stood. "Well, if you have any friends to say goodbye to, you should do it now. I'm going to fill out the paperwork" She then left the room but the hairy animal-things didn't follow her. They continued to stare at Keith. Keith cautiously stood up, seeing that their eyes were following him. He inched towards the door, watching the hairy things watch him. He then sprinted out the door as he swung open the door. He heard a large sound that he couldn't identify but it was low and desperate. He looked behind him and saw the hairy things running towards him. His eyes widened comically and he started to run faster. He heard the same noise again and his breathing became ragged as he was chased after.

He ran to his bedroom and shut the door quickly behind him. He heard the hairy monsters approaching the door and heard something that sounded like nails scratching on the door. He slowly moved away from the door and walked into the room. He didn't really have anything. Except he had this knife thing that was confiscated when he first came here. He wondered if he could get it back. He didn't even know why he came back to the room. It'd just be filled with another kid after anyways. He wasn't attached to it. He faintly heard clicks going down the hall and assumed that the hairy monsters were gone. He cracked open his door. They were gone. He slowly got out of the room and went down the hall to the office. He peeked in and saw nobody. He knew exactly where the confiscated stuff was. It was always on the left glass shelf in a battered up cardboard box.

He slowly slithered into the room with utmost stealth. He hid behind a miniature shelf as someone walked by the office. His breathing picked up and he started to hyperventilate.  _Calm down. They don't scare you. They aren't scary._ He got out of his hiding spot and climbed up onto it. He balanced on it before jumping to a filing cabinet. He almost went crashing to the ground but managed to cling on for dear life. He whimpered softly but strained himself, pulling his body up. He sighed softly before reaching out and grabbing onto the shelf.

He kicked off from the filing cabinet and crawled onto the large glass shelf. He crawled all the way to the cardboard box and rifled through all of the stolen stuff. Once he went looking through, he found old stuff like beaten up teddy bears and little figurines that were broken. He even cut his hand on a broken shard of glass. It sliced right in the middle of his palm. He hissed out softly and kept his search on. Finally, he pulled out the knife thing that was wrapped in the brown bandages that the orphanage had. He hugged it close to his chest and sighed in relief. "Hey! You!" Keith physically jumped and looked over at the office door. It was one of the adult's. Actually, no. It was The Adult. The one Keith feared the most. The alpha acquired a snarl onto their face and stomped into the room. Keith was too afraid of The Adult catching him that he hadn't heard the cracking of the glass panel that he was sitting on. As The Adult was coming at him, the glass shelf broke into tiny bits with a loud  ** _CRRAAAASH!_**  Keith fell down to the panel below which made that panel shatter as well. The chain of glass panels breaking was never ending until he reached the bottom. At this point, Keith's tiny body was  _covered_ in cuts. There were plenty of little cuts but there was also a big amount of big gashes in his skin. He let out a tiny screamed as he rolled out onto the floor at The Adult's feet.

Rolling around in shattered glass was  _definitely not_ good for a child. Especially when he already had so many cuts already. He got a big gash in his child and it spilled blood out onto the floor. He whimpered as he felt pain jolt through him at every inch he moved. His vision got blurrier and blurrier as he lay on the ground. All of the sudden, he felt himself being scooped into someone's arms. He struggled with staying awake and getting out of the stranger's grasp but eventually began to lose himself. As his consciousness was slipping, he heard a woman's voice call out to him.

"You're going to be alright, Keith"


	4. The Omega Lady - Seven Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was Keith allowed to lie too?

It wasn't long until Keith woke up. Or maybe it was. It felt short and that's all he could really tell. But he did know that he woke up in a really bright room that wasn't his own. He could hear strange and deep voices talking around him which forced his eyes open for the second time. He looked around and saw people in white, long coats. He shifted slightly and felt a jolt of pain coursed up his arm. He winced and all their heads snapped to him. He flinched as their scents hit him like a blur. After going for so long without smelling other people's scents, it mind-numbing and painful to smell them all at once. Most of their scents were concerned for him, it was easy to tell. But there were a small few that held malice in them though, Keith couldn't tell where it was coming from.

He didn't see Meghan anywhere, which made him a bit on edge. He was alone in a place he didn't know. Of course, it wouldn't have been the first time. But after meeting someone who had told him she would take care of him, he was expecting those words to be put into action. Looks like they weren't. He didn't say anything, as per usual. An omega lady comes up to him, where he was laying and unable to move. Instantly, Keith was overwhelmed by nice and comforting smells. She looked down at him with a kind smile as she fiddled with something attached to his arm. Wait, attached to his arm? What is that?! Getting panicked, Keith started to squirm around. Though, it cost him. An endless amount of pain shot through his body painfully. He gasped out as the lady began to fumble around. "Now, now, young man. Please stay still. I need to put more painkillers into your system. You must be hurting a lot, huh?" Keith glared at her and tried to use his other hand to pull the thing sticking into his arm out. Instantaneously, an alpha man in a white coat reached out to Keith. The boy flinched away and his head turned away. Keith could feel the stares on him as he shook a little in his spot. Keith didn't dare look at them as he stayed still. He didn't want to be here. It was better at the orphanage then here. Someone get him out of there!! Someone help him!!!

But Keith's thoughts were interrupted as a door slammed shut. He jumped and his eyes moved over to the cause of the sound. Meghan walked in and shuffled over to Keith with intent. He wanted to move away from her. To hide. But he didn't. He stayed still as he watched her shoo the strangers away. All but one left. The Omega Lady. She continued to fiddle around with the machine that led to the thing in Keith's arm. Meghan pulled up a chair and sat by Keith. She started talking about the orphanage and something about it closing. Closing windows? Keith didn't know what she meant. But his attention was drawn to her now talking about where he was and what happened. "After the glass shelf broke, I rushed you here to the hospital. You've been asleep for about five days." Five days was a long time. He wondered why he was asleep for so long but his thoughts concluded it was because of the glass.

"Once you get better, I'll take you back to my home. Also, I have this for you. You had it with you so I figured you wanted it" She held up his knife still wrapped in bandages and he lit up. Quietly and painfully, he reached out and tried to grab it. But his short arms couldn't reach that far. Thankfully whatever the Omega Lady was doing was lessening Keith's pain, it certainly didn't stop it. He huffed and sat back as Meghan gave him a soft look. The soft look was something Keith was afraid to see. Was she planning something? Was she going to send him back to the orphanage? He was only kidding! He didn't want to go back. But he didn't like the look on her face. The smile was daunting.

Promptly, the world started to go blurry and his body felt heavy and weighted down. He glanced over at Meghan and saw her smile still present. The lying smile, Keith concluded. Did people always lie? Why? What were they always lying about? Was Keith allowed to lie too? Keith's thoughts slowly became muddled and his vision closed in on him until it became like a tunnel, eventually becoming completely dark.

****

Keith came back to the world violently. It was the sound of his own scream followed by someone else’s, which confused him the most. He blinked his eyes open and jerked his head around instantly to find the source of the scream that didn’t come from his own mouth. His eyes locked onto the Omega Lady’s from before and recognized the slight fear in her face and scent. What he didn't understand was why was she fearful? Keith was harmless and bedridden.

Keith watched as she slowly calmed down. “I’m glad you’re awake. How’re you feeling?” She asked. Keith gave no response and stared hard at her. She laughed softly and started to fiddle with the clear package that had a thick wire connecting to Keith’s arm. He wanted to yank it out. “You’re mother was quite worried about you. She stayed by your side the entire time you were asleep.” “....’s not.” The Omega Lady turned to look at him. “I’m sorry?” She asked softly. Keith’s face twisted into an irritated expression and he resisted the growl bubbling in his throat. He cleared his throat. “She’s...not.....” Despite Keith’s efforts, she didn’t seem to understand what he was getting at. He huffed. “Meghan’s....” That was her name, right? “...not my...mom.” He averted his gaze.  _Don’t appear weak_ , His mind supplied him.

The Omega Lady hummed softly, thoughtfully. “I see.” She murmured, openly staring at Keith. Such an unabashed look. It irritated Keith to no end. “Stop staring at me like that!” He snapped. “It’s gross.” He just felt he needed to inform her how creepy she was being. However, again, it didn’t seem to affect her. She simply smiled at him and held out her hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you, Keith.” Keith blinked blankly, trying to process her entirely. Was she not afraid of anything? Or at least annoyed with Keith? It made no sense. Didn’t add up at all.

Keith scowled at her hand, refusing to take it. Eventually, she pulled her hand away. “You should rest a little, Keith. You’ve been awake for quite a while.” Keith shook his head. “Don’t wanna.” He responded. He knew he was being difficult. That was what he was trying to do. But she seemed to be taking it all in stride because see stayed tall and smiley. “Alright, then. How about I tell you a story?” She brought the guest chair over and sat it right beside Keith’s bed. “What type of story do you want to here?” She asked, which seemed useless because he wasn’t going to answer her. She seemed to take it in stride. “Alright, well, I’ll tell you about Doctor Henry Jekyll and Mister Edward Hyde, then. So, Doctor Henry Jekyll, a man of many talents. He lives for his experiments....”

****

 

“....he threatened to get rid of himself to get rid of Hyde. He fought and argued with himself like a madman.” The Omega Lady held her hands up and brought her fingers to her thumbs. She started moving one hand. “‘You won’t hurt anyone else, Hyde! I’ll do it! I swear it!’” She said in a weird way, Keith observed. She sounded soft around ‘ur’ in the word ‘hurt’ and it was something Keith wasn’t used to. Keith watched as the Omega Lady lifted her other hand and started moving it. “‘If you do it, I’ll just take over your body! You won’t win either way!’” Her voice growled, making Keith tense up.  _What the hell is ‘it’?_  He wondered. The little boy laid back as he kept his eyes trained on the omega lady’s hands. _This is so stupid. Jekyll should just jump off a cliff and get rid of Hyde. Why are they being so..._  He didn’t know how to describe it. He stopped thinking about it. “‘The whole town is at my door! It’s either I get rid of you myself or the town does! What would you rather?’ ‘You know what I’d rather, Jekyll......’”

  
****

The next thing Keith knew, as he was opening his eyes and getting hit with the scent of agitated alpha’s and the Omega Lady‘s distressed scent. Keith’s eyes cracked open and he was hit with a blinding white light. He winced and closed his eyes again, the muscles in his face tensing up as he turns his head away. “Keith...” He heard someone call. He cracked them open once more and adjusted to the brightness before locking eyes with Meghan. Wait, Meghan? But the omega lady was just telling him about Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde...

 

Keith looked around and saw the alpha’s in long white coats taking to the Omega Lady. He sat up, frowning. The omega lady seemed to finally notice he was up and smiled at him, which ignited fear in his heart. “You’re up. You fell asleep while I was telling you the story...” The orphan glanced wearily to the alpha’s in white coats and shifted nervously. The Omega Lady caught his nervousness. “These are the doctors. They’re here to help, Keith.” She tried to reassure him, but he highly doubted they would help when they were so angry. One of them pushed the omega lady by the shoulder. “Not if you won’t let us do our fucking job, bitch.” A Doctor spat.

 

Keith suddenly had a hatred for doctors.

 

He frowned some more and his shoulders hackled up. “Stop!” He shouted, which most definitely caught the doctor’s attention. And the Omega Lady’s. The Mean Doctor snarled. “We’re trying to help you, boy. You don’t know anything so shut your trap.”  _Trap?_  Keith became unsettled. He briskly got up and made moves to hop off the bed. However, his body was caught before he could even hit the ground. Keith flinched and whipped his head up to glare at whoever it was. It was Meghan. He still didn’t like someone touching him so he squirmed in her hold. “Let go!” He hissed. She did. Once she sat him down on the bed.

“Stay still.” She commanded. She pushed him back and avoided his hands swatting at hers, taking a step back. “You’re going to be in the hospital for a few more days then I’ll take you back to my home. I don’t want you to cause the doctor’s any trouble. You understand?” Keith met her eyes and nodded. The look in her eyes softened around the edges but she turned away to look at The Mean Doctor. Keith’s violet eye’s trembled as he trained them on the lips of The Mean Doctor. They moved rapidly as he focused on talking to Meghan privately. Keith pretended not to listen but, in fact, did.

“....t’s not fight in front of the child? It’s unprofessional.” Is what he heard. Unprofessional? Keith’s never heard that word before. Maybe it was a type of food. Keith silently wondered what it tasted like as he watched The Mean Doctor stalk out of the room with the other alpha’s. The Omega Lady watched them leave as well before walking over to the clear bag attached to Keith’s arm. Her face wasn’t smiling and some fear still lingered in her scent, Keith could tell. Just looking at her face showed him that she was irritated with whatever just happened. He wasn’t about to ask, though. The Omega Lady looked down at him. Was she glaring at him? She looked angry. Keith wanted to run away. He wanted to hide. He wanted to yank that tube out of his arm. He wanted to get out!

Panic was rising in his chest as his head filled with worry. He quickly looked down at his arm and reached over to the tube with the other. His hand grasped at it shakily and yanked it out with all his might. He had to get out of here! He can’t stay here! They were going to take him back and make sure that they used more cigarettes in him. He wouldn’t be able to see those hairy monsters again. He wouldn’t get to smell the comforting smell of Shay, the Omega Lady. He would go back to running and hiding and running and hiding and starving and starving and starving—

A firm weight was brought down on Keith’s shoulders and he felt himself being thrashed around like a teddy bear. Someone’s voice was calling out to him but it sounded as if they were underwater. Were they swimming? Where were they going?! Why weren’t they taking Keith with them? Away from here? Fine! He’d get out on his own! But as soon as Keith moved to jump off the bed, the firm weight tangled itself around him and stopped him from moving anywhere. He wasn’t aware of his screaming until his voice gave out, making him cough and choke on his shredded voice.

The underwater person’s voice was finally coming back into the clear. It was higher than The Mean Doctor’s but sounding lower than Meghan’s. The muffled sounds finally came back into the clear and Keith could tell whose voice it was. It was Shay’s. She was saying something. What was she saying? It sounded smooth and it never ended. It made Keith realize that his own voice was unusable now. He blinked and he could suddenly see the hospital room. He realized how uneven and ragged his breathing had become and he tried to calm down. Only, it made him freak out more. He let out a soft and desperate whimper as his small fingers clutch onto her white dress.

He wasn’t sure what she was saying but she wasn’t stopping. And her hand ran along his back slowly, which oddly calmed him down. He found he could breathe again. He could feel the real world again. He gulped down some air desperately and tried to speak. “Aaa...ah ah ah....” His voice cracked and broke underneath his pressure, not letting him form any words. Shay shushed him and held him even closer as if that were possible.

Before Keith could grasp onto himself again, there was a flurry of noise. He was pulled away from Shay, which he really disliked. He reached out to her in a desperate motion as he frowned angrily. He heard himself let out a small noise as he reached out to her but it was cut off by someone’s hand yanking his jaw towards them. He looked into The Mean Doctor’s eyes and faltered, face falling into a scared look of shock. “You  _will_ shut up.” He hissed. “You are a nuisance to the other patients, you disgusting orphan!” “Doctor Lazarević, stop it!” Keith heard Shay calling desperately. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith could see her tugging at his arm hurriedly. He ignored her. “This is why I don’t treat children! All they do is whine and complain, whine and complain! I’ve had enough of it! You are a hopeless case!” Of course, any and all struggling was useless. Keith tried, he really did. He rasped our whimpers as he tried to pry at The Mean Doctor’s fingers that were holding him by his arms. He was especially squeezing at the place where the tube went into his arm.

“Zoran, stop this! You’re drunk!” Shay pleaded, still tugging at his arm. The Mean Doctor growled and shoved Shay to the floor with one hand, still holding Keith up in the other one. “ _Shut up Omega!_ “ He hissed. That made Keith shut right the hell up, his body going slack in The Mean Doctor’s grip.

  
The rest was all a blur.

****

The Doctor was apparently fired. Keith didn’t exactly know what that meant. Did they kill him? Is that it? Because he overheard two beta doctor’s talking about it when they thought Keith was asleep. He wasn’t, though. He was wide awake and wondering where Shay was. He remembered the Mean Doctor shoving her away. Keith really hoped she wasn’t hurt. Because of him, nonetheless. It was his fault if she was really hurt. But how do you apologize to someone when you can barely speak at all? Keith tried. Once the doctors were gone, he tried to call for Shay. Or Meghan. He can’t remember.

However, his worries dissipated when Shay came rushing into the room. She cupped his face in her hands and started ripping out a slew of apologies and ‘I should’ve protected you better’ and other stuff like that. He didn’t think it was her fault for what happened. So why is she apologizing? Keith would never know.

What he did know was every day after the incident, Shay would come by and give him his painkillers (a new word he learned from her) and tell him another story. She told him about a treasure hunter who was constantly getting chased and constantly breaking things he stepped on. She told him about Cinderella and how she ran away from the one thing she wanted. She told him about this girl who lost her mother and met this family who turned into animals.

Needless to say, Keith learned a lot from Shay.

And he had started speaking around her too. After he got his voice back, of course. Every time Shay came by, she’d give him this hot fruity drink and he was starting to gain his voice back. He told her vaguely of Meghan’s hairy monsters that chased him down the corridor of the orphanage (she laughed when he told her but he didn’t see what was so funny.) He told her about the kid that got dunked into a toilet head first (she didn’t laugh at that.) And his stay at the hospital lasted for a week and a half (from what he heard from the doctor’s.)

And then the time came where Keith had to “go home” with Meghan.

For some reason, it was a whole emotional endeavour. It wasn’t like he talked with the other nurse’s much. Maybe a few times. How mind concluded that they had been watching him talk with Shay about Cinderella and the other stories. He hated that but didn’t tell them. Some of them were crying when he was walking to the lobby of the hospital. Shay was by his side, telling him that she was so proud of how strong he had gotten from the “mortifying injuries” from before. He was happy to listen to her. And the thing was, other than the first time they talked, Keith never had to repeat himself for Shay. She never asked him to repeat what he said which was a load off his shoulders. Really, it did.

He got to the entrance of the hospital, waiting for Meghan to sign him out. He looked up at Shay and hackled up at the noticeable tears in her eyes. He tugged at her nurse’s gown. “Why are you crying?” He whispered frantically. She laughed softly and wiped said tears away with the heel of her hand. She crouched down to his height and hugged him to her chest. “Stay strong, Keith. Don’t let anyone burn away the fire inside you.” She whispered to him. He was tense but he hugged her back, still holding onto his knife. “I-I won’t.” He murmured. They stayed like that for a moment before he pulled away and she stood back up. She ruffled his hair as Meghan approached them. “Goodbye, Keith.” She whispered with a wave. Meghan gently hovered her hand by Keith’s shoulder and led him out of the hospital. He looked back at Shay in the entrance and waved back.

 

“Bye-bye, Shay...”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in this chapter. Life got really...really busy and complicated and if I'm honest, I hit a big writing roadblock for a while. I'm going to try to post them semi-regularly from now.


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